Nation Building

Most American Blacks are descended from Africans, who were brought here hundreds of years ago through no will of their own. Having their cultural identities stripped away, the descendants of these Africans have vague – if any- social and historical perceptive.
Without first-hand knowledge of their roots, many American Blacks can only shape their views of Africa based upon what has been said and written in both the media and distorted history books, which tells us of a continent full of war-torn countries, starving people and corrupt leaders, who continue to profit from the betrayal of its people. I didn't understand why a lot of blacks born in America had a issue with their heritage. In the early sixties it was insulting to be called black. But in the late nineteen sixties we were wearing our African clothing, our African head-dress. Too most people the Negro and colored phrases were dropped, black was most definitely in, and that's what most of us wanted to be called by other races.
Still today, some of the southern states and rural areas still call us coloreds or Negroes. While these phrases are insulting to most young and middle-aged African-Americans, there are older African-Americans that would prefer to be called colored or Negro. To be called black is insulting to them.
Then there are those "African-Americans or blacks" that are ashamed of being called African-Americans. If you ask them they will tell you they are not ashamed to be African-Americans. They say they would rather be called by their name than to be called a race.
On the flip side are the migrant Africans, from various parts of the continent, who are either unfamiliar or ambivalent with the past and continued struggle of American blacks. In some cases, these native-born Africans carry some of their own prejudices, which too have been perpetuated through the media. For example, believing that African-Americans are too racially ambiguous to be considered “full-blood” Africans or believing that Blacks harbor a deep-seated “chip on their shoulder” syndrome about slavery, which has prohibited them from fully taken advantages of the land of opportunity.
The result is that many native-born Africans and African-Americans have become ignorant to each other’s complex realities, choosing to maintain a separate identity and not fully capitalizing of each other’s various strengths.

However, while cultural differences remain, our shared future in a country, where racial discrimination and intimidation still exist, have a greater power to unite both sides of the same black coin. In other words, while we may continue to divide intra-racially, there are others, who only see “black” and will react accordingly – just ask the likes of Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell.
To bridge the divide, there must be a collective effort to develop a mutual respect and understanding of one another’s struggle, strengths and triumphs.  Our people, collectively, have to understand that colonization in some ways was no different than slavery and its impact of how we view ourselves, and each other, is all relative. Perhaps we are in need of another “Back to Africa” movement, like what was started by Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey, in which the primary focus is on educating, outreach and reconciliation of all people of African descent worldwide.
One could hope that African Americans and Africans alike will someday realize the importance of economic, political and cultural linkages with our brothers and sisters and embrace the term “African” no matter where they may reside in the Diaspora.